Wake Forest Athletics
Caldwell Looks Ahead To Matchup With Virginia
9/14/1999 12:00:00 AM | Football
Sept. 14, 1999
On Army
"The old adage - you're never as good as you think you are when you win and
you look at that film and you're never as bad as you think you are when you
lose. That's how close it is. I'm certain Army is looking at that tape and
saying 'boy we were very close in a number of situations.' If we had gotten
one more block, a score here, etc., etc. And I think we look at it and say
we were fortunate to get a win because there were so many things in that
ballgame that weren't different. All across the board we did not have what
you'd call an outstanding game. It looked just like a first game - a lot of
mistakes, a lot of inconsistency - and that's in regard to every
position, particularly where we have some youth. Overall execution in terms
of the run was a little better than we've had in previous years but we've
had good games like that, where we've had good rushing games... but the
consistency is key. I think we were a little bit better in that area. Our
effort was good, there's no question about that."
On Virginia
"They're obviously an outstanding football team. They run the ball well.
They stop the run well. So it will be a real test for us. Army was one game
and that's behind us. We've got another one coming. Virginia is a much
better football team. So we've got a real challenge ahead of us.
"Our conference is tough. Virginia is a very tough team. Our team has not had a lot of success against Virginia in recent years so we have to play extremely well to put ourselves in a position to win the game. They do everything right - good, solid running game, good solid kicking game. Mature players. Almost their entire offense is back. They really create some problems for you. They don't make very many mistakes. They put a lot of pressure on you. Defensively they put presure on you up front. Offensively they put a lot of pressure on you in terms of being able to run the ball. They probably have as athletic an offensive line that's not only athletic but is also as big as anybody we'll face.
"They're still the same kind of Virginia team year in and year out. Big and physical, talented. We'll have to be able to slow them down. We're not going to be able to stop Virginia completely - no one has. We have to be able to run the ball and etablish field position with our kicking game."
